2 Deny They Know Of Bribes To Eagan

Two men who have been prominent figures in Central Florida's adult entertainment industry testified Tuesday before a federal grand jury investigating corruption in Orange County.

Former adult theater owner Anthony Arnone of Fort Lauderdale and Casselberry topless nightclub owner Michael Pinter Jr. said they were asked if they knew of any bribes that had been paid to Orange-Osceola State Attorney Robert Eagan's office.

Both men said they were not aware of any such deals.

The grand jury is investigating allegations of bribery and case-fixing against Eagan; his chief investigator, Lou Lowery; and two former employees, Sheriff Lawson Lamar and Sheriff's Cmdr. Jere James. Each has denied any wrongdoing and accused enemies of being behind the politically motivated investigation.

Arnone, 45, who owned several adult theaters in the county in the mid- 1970s, said he testified for about 20 minutes. He said he answered questions about allegations made against him in 1977 by a former female employee who charged that he bribed Lowery or had received protection from him during a probe into his theaters.

Two state investigations cleared Lowery. Arnone said he has since sold the theaters.

''This is the third time I've been questioned about this,'' Arnone said, questioning the validity of the probe. He said he never met Lowery.

Pinter said he was asked about bribes and illegal gambling in Orange County. He said he was not involved in gambling and that he had never bribed anyone.

Pinter, 40, who owns the Club Juana, said he believed he was called before the grand jury ''because of the business I'm in.'' He is a client of Orlando attorney Edward Hanlon Jr., who was indicted by the same grand jury on perjury charges in June and convicted last month. Pinter was a spectator each day at Hanlon's trial.

Hanlon, 60, a former Orange County judge who has represented adult theaters in the county, was the first person indicted by the corruption grand jury. During his trial, prosecutors alleged that Hanlon suggested he could receive protection from Eagan's office for illegal gambling activities. Hanlon will be sentenced Oct. 21.

During secret tape recordings made in 1981 by the FBI with Hanlon and another man, Elvin Carroll of Kissimmee, Carroll suggested that the gambling was to take place in a recreational vehicle to be parked in isolated orange groves owned by Duke Crittenden of Orlando.

Crittenden testified before the grand jury Tuesday, but could not be reached for comment. He said last month he was not aware of the scheme.

In other testimony, an Orlando woman denied allegations by Sam Ingham, former Orange County chief deputy, that Eagan was bribed to reduce charges in a murder-conspiracy case in 1974.

Jeanne Harris testified that she was a secretary at a construction company where an executive, John Sapp, 49, had hired a ''hit man'' to kill his business partner, Orlando attorney Russell Hornsby. The ''hit man'' turned out to be an undercover Orlando police officer.

Ingham, who was fired by Lamar in 1981, had charged that Harris told him that she saw a payoff to Eagan to have a ''reduced conviction'' for Sapp. Harris denied that, but said she saw a payoff between Sapp and the police officer and testified to that at Sapp's trial.

Sapp was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, but the charge later was reduced to a misdemeanor because of a legal loophole. Lamar, then a prosecutor in Eagan's office, said at the time Sapp could not be convicted of the felony because he actually was conspiring with a police officer who never intended to carry out the act. Sapp was convicted and sentenced to one year in the county jail.